English International Update

[Alan Day]

I promised to keep you informed about this project and the latest situation is that I have almost completed two trial cassettes of the recordings I have received including archive material(approx three hours).This saves me wading through a mountain of CDs and Cassettes to hear how the collection is progressing.I have sent three compilation cassettes out to a selected few people who have a wide range of music tastes to see what their reaction would be to the collection and thank goodness it is very favourable.

We expect this English International to have three CDs with the forty page booklet as before(Anglo).We have however more recordings to come in,as Anglo some of the first players I contacted are the last to send me their recordings.As there is a considerable amount of work to do by Graham Bradshaw when we recieve the final recordings,there will be a delay on the expected release date,which we now expect to be late this year or early in the New Year.Including the Archive artists I expect to have over thirty different players or groups for you to listen to, approx four hours of recordings.

I will update you with the full line up in the near future.

Al

[allan atlas]

ALAN: thanks for the up-date. . . .good to hear that the project keeps moving along. . . ..looking forward to hearing the CDs. . . . .

 

if i remember correctly (which is something i still manage to do once in a while), there are a few recordings by turn-of-the-century concertinists ((19th-20th centuries) performing music from the Victorian tradition. . . . . .i don't recall who the concertinists are or just what they perform. . . . .any chance that English International will devote at least a track or two to them. . . . .it would be fascinating to hear the likes of Regondi and Blagrove performed by concertinists who could trace their concertina lineage back to those guys and who had their (those guys') style still firmly in their (the later guys') ears. . . . . .

 

again, i look forward to hearing the CDs. . . . .and thanks for all the hard work. . . . ..Allan

[Alan Day]

By coincidence only within the last couple of weeks we have had an offer of a fantastic unique recording of Ernest Rutterford being made available for this collection. I quote the information supplied to me that Ernest Rutterford normally known for his Maccan Duet playing ( he will be featured on Duet International;) is here playing the English Concertina and the recording is a precious link to the nineteenth century class players and their reportoire as it is the nearest we are going to get to the playing of Regondi's contempory Richard Blagrove.

The record is a test peice and Ernest Rutterford is playing Blagrove's showpiece/encore "The recollections of Scotland".It is a significant recording as Ernie's Father Charles Rutterford was a pupil of Blagrove and he taught Ernie.

This recording is typical of the help ,generosity and interest shown by members of Concertina .net for this project.Using the recordings donated with a mixture of modern recordings ,we will follow the playing of the English Concertina from the 1920s right through to current day players over the three CDs.

I am still locating interesting and important recordings and it is another reason for the slight delay.

Al

[allan atlas]

ALAN: many thanks for that information. . . . . .Rutterford playing Blagrove. . . . . .should be fascinating. . . . . .allan

[John Wild]

I am still locating interesting and important recordings and it is another reason for the slight delay.

Al

 

Getting the "right" or "best possible" collection is more important than any delay.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

- John